Overview
Background
Dr Thomas B. Shaw is a neuroscientist and MRI researcher at The University of Queensland whose work focuses on developing advanced neuroimaging biomarkers for Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and related neurodegenerative disorders. He leads research at the intersection of ultra-high-field MRI, computational image analysis, and biomedical AI, aiming to identify early markers of disease progression and treatment response.
His research program integrates 7 Tesla and 3 Tesla MRI, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and quantitative imaging to map brain and spinal cord changes in people living with MND. Dr Shaw helped establish the Asia-Pacific MND Imaging Initiative (AMII), a collaborative network harmonising MRI protocols across major Australian centres including UQ.
He has been successful in competitive research funding, including NHMRC, FightMND, and MND Research Australia grants, and his work appears in e.g., Nature Methods, NeuroImage, and Brain Communications.
His broader interests include metabolic dysfunction, AI-driven diagnostics, and open-science neuroimaging pipelines that enhance reproducibility and collaboration across the neuroscience community.
Availability
- Dr Thomas Shaw is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Psychological Science, The University of Queensland
- Masters (Research) of Neuroscience, Australian National University
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
Research impacts
Dr Thomas Shaw’s research is transforming how Motor Neuron Disease (MND) is studied and diagnosed in Australia. By building national and international collaborations and imaging databases for MND, he is creating the foundation for faster, more accurate detection and monitoring of this devastating condition.
Thomas co-leads the Asia-Pacific MND Imaging Initiative (AMII)—a network linking clinicians, MRI physicists, and data scientists to create Australia’s first harmonised imaging and data infrastructure for MND. This collaboration enables equitable research participation across hospitals and accelerates discoveries that can be translated into clinical practice.
His team’s work has contributed to publicly accessible datasets and open-source software that are now used by researchers worldwide.
Dr Shaw’s emphasis on open science and reproducibility is helping to democratise access to advanced imaging tools, particularly for researchers in developing regions. Through training, mentorship, and policy engagement, he is helping build Australia’s next generation of neuroimaging scientists while improving research equity and patient outcomes.
Works
Search Professor Thomas Shaw’s works on UQ eSpace
2025
Journal Article
From a voxel to maps: a comparative study of sLASER SVS and 3D-CRT-FID-MRSI at 3 T and 7 T
Eftekhari, Zeinab, Eckstein, Korbinian, Strasser, Bernhard, Hingerl, Lukas, Niess, Fabian, Bogner, Wolfgang, Shaw, Thomas and Barth, Markus (2025). From a voxel to maps: a comparative study of sLASER SVS and 3D-CRT-FID-MRSI at 3 T and 7 T. NMR in Biomedicine. doi: 10.1002/nbm.70185
2025
Journal Article
Segmentation of the human tongue musculature using MRI: Field guide and validation in motor neuron disease
Shaw, Thomas B., Ribeiro, Fernanda L., Zhu, Xiangyun, Aiken, Patrick, Bollmann, Saskia, Bollmann, Steffen, Chang, Jeryn, Chidley, Kali, Dempsey-Jones, Harriet, Eftekhari, Zeinab, Gillespie, Jennifer, Henderson, Robert D., Kiernan, Matthew C., Ktena, Ira, McCombe, Pamela A., Ngo, Shyuan T., Taubert, Shana T., Whelan, Brooke-Mai, Ye, Xincheng, Steyn, Frederik J., Tu, Sicong and Barth, Markus (2025). Segmentation of the human tongue musculature using MRI: Field guide and validation in motor neuron disease. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 196 (Part B) 110824, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2025.110824
2025
Journal Article
Generalized learning induced by training and tDCS is predicted by prefrontal cortical morphology
Ehrhardt, Shane E., Wards, Yohan, Shaw, Thomas B., Garner, Kelly G., Bollmann, Steffen, Mattingley, Jason B., Dux, Paul E. and Filmer, Hannah L. (2025). Generalized learning induced by training and tDCS is predicted by prefrontal cortical morphology. Cerebral Cortex, 35 (8) bhaf229. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaf229
2025
Journal Article
Deciphering hypothalamic pathology in ALS: insights into non-motor symptoms and disease progression
Chang, Jeryn, Teo, Annissa H., Shaw, Thomas B., Dupuis, Luc, Ngo, Shyuan T. and Steyn, Frederik J. (2025). Deciphering hypothalamic pathology in ALS: insights into non-motor symptoms and disease progression. eBioMedicine, 118 105845, 105845-118. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2025.105845
2025
Journal Article
Reliability and reproducibility of metabolite quantification using 1H MRS in the human brain at 3 T and 7 T
Eftekhari, Zeinab, Shaw, Thomas B., Deelchand, Dinesh K., Marjańska, Małgorzata, Bogner, Wolfgang and Barth, Markus (2025). Reliability and reproducibility of metabolite quantification using 1H MRS in the human brain at 3 T and 7 T. NMR in Biomedicine, 38 (8) e70087, 1-14. doi: 10.1002/nbm.70087
2025
Journal Article
An annotated multi-site and multi-contrast magnetic resonance imaging dataset for the study of the human tongue musculature
Ribeiro, Fernanda L., Zhu, Xiangyun, Ye, Xincheng, Tu, Sicong, Ngo, Shyuan T., Henderson, Robert D., Steyn, Frederik J., Kiernan, Matthew C., Barth, Markus, Bollmann, Steffen and Shaw, Thomas B. (2025). An annotated multi-site and multi-contrast magnetic resonance imaging dataset for the study of the human tongue musculature. Scientific Data, 12 (1) 790, 790. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-05092-8
2025
Journal Article
An fMRI dataset for appetite neural correlates in people living with Motor Neuron Disease
Chang, Jeryn, Lv, JingLei, Guo, Christine C., Lucia, Diana, Bollmann, Saskia, Garner, Kelly, McCombe, Pamela A., Henderson, Robert D., Shaw, Thomas B., Steyn, Frederik J. and Ngo, Shyuan T. (2025). An fMRI dataset for appetite neural correlates in people living with Motor Neuron Disease. Scientific Data, 12 (1) 466, 466. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-04828-w
2025
Journal Article
Appetite loss in patients with motor neuron disease: impact on weight loss and neural correlates of visual food cues
Chang, Jeryn, Shaw, Thomas B., McCombe, Pamela A., Henderson, Robert D., Lucia, Diana, Guo, Christine C., Lv, Jinglei, Garner, Kelly, Bollmann, Saskia, Ngo, Shyuan T. and Steyn, Frederik J. (2025). Appetite loss in patients with motor neuron disease: impact on weight loss and neural correlates of visual food cues. Brain Communications, 7 (2) fcaf111, 1-14. doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcaf111
2025
Journal Article
Factors associated with true-positive and false-positive diagnoses of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia in 100 consecutive referrals from specialist physicians
Flavell, Joshua, Ahern, Emily G. M., Logan, Benignus, Shaw, Thomas B., Adam, Robert J., McElligott, Caitlin A. T. and Nestor, Peter J. (2025). Factors associated with true-positive and false-positive diagnoses of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia in 100 consecutive referrals from specialist physicians. European Journal of Neurology, 32 (1) e70036, e70036-1. doi: 10.1111/ene.70036
2024
Journal Article
A (sub)field guide to quality control in hippocampal subfield segmentation on high‐resolution T<sub>2</sub>‐weighted MRI
Canada, Kelsey L., Mazloum‐Farzaghi, Negar, Rådman, Gustaf, Adams, Jenna N., Bakker, Arnold, Baumeister, Hannah, Berron, David, Bocchetta, Martina, Carr, Valerie A., Dalton, Marshall A., de Flores, Robin, Keresztes, Attila, La Joie, Renaud, Mueller, Susanne G., Raz, Naftali, Santini, Tales, Shaw, Thomas, Stark, Craig E. L., Tran, Tammy T., Wang, Lei, Wisse, Laura E. M., Wuestefeld, Anika, Yushkevich, Paul A., Olsen, Rosanna K., Daugherty, Ana M. and the Hippocampal Subfields Group (2024). A (sub)field guide to quality control in hippocampal subfield segmentation on high‐resolution T2‐weighted MRI. Human Brain Mapping, 45 (15) e70004, 1-19. doi: 10.1002/hbm.70004
2024
Journal Article
VesselBoost: a Python toolbox for small blood vessel segmentation in human magnetic resonance angiography data
Xu, Marshall, Ribeiro, Fernanda L., Barth, Markus, Bernier, Michaël, Bollmann, Steffen, Chatterjee, Soumick, Cognolato, Francesco, Gulban, Omer F., Itkyal, Vaibhavi, Liu, Siyu, Mattern, Hendrik, Polimeni, Jonathan R., Shaw, Thomas B., Speck, Oliver and Bollmann, Saskia (2024). VesselBoost: a Python toolbox for small blood vessel segmentation in human magnetic resonance angiography data. Aperture Neuro, 4, 1-13. doi: 10.52294/001c.123217
2024
Journal Article
Long-term improvement in hippocampal-dependent learning ability in healthy, aged individuals following high intensity interval training
Blackmore, Daniel G., Schaumberg, Mia A., Ziaei, Maryam, Belford, Samuel, To, Xuan Vinh, O’Keeffe, Imogen, Bernard, Anne, Mitchell, Jules, Hume, Emily, Rose, Grace L., Shaw, Thomas, York, Ashley, Barth, Markus, Cooper, Elizabeth J., Skinner, Tina L., Nasrallah, Fatima, Riek, Stephan and Bartlett, Perry F. (2024). Long-term improvement in hippocampal-dependent learning ability in healthy, aged individuals following high intensity interval training. Aging and Disease, 16 (3), 1732-1754. doi: 10.14336/AD.2024.0642
2024
Journal Article
Neurodesk: an accessible, flexible and portable data analysis environment for reproducible neuroimaging
Renton, Angela I., Dao, Thuy T., Johnstone, Tom, Civier, Oren, Sullivan, Ryan P., White, David J., Lyons, Paris, Slade, Benjamin M., Abbott, David F., Amos, Toluwani J., Bollmann, Saskia, Botting, Andy, Campbell, Megan E. J., Chang, Jeryn, Close, Thomas G., Dörig, Monika, Eckstein, Korbinian, Egan, Gary F., Evas, Stefanie, Flandin, Guillaume, Garner, Kelly G., Garrido, Marta I., Ghosh, Satrajit S., Grignard, Martin, Halchenko, Yaroslav O., Hannan, Anthony J., Heinsfeld, Anibal S., Huber, Laurentius, Hughes, Matthew E. ... Bollmann, Steffen (2024). Neurodesk: an accessible, flexible and portable data analysis environment for reproducible neuroimaging. Nature Methods, 21 (2), 804-808. doi: 10.1038/s41592-023-02145-x
2024
Journal Article
Neurochemical predictors of generalised learning induced by brain stimulation and training
Ehrhardt, Shane E., Wards, Yohan, Rideaux, Reuben, Marjańska, Małgorzata, Jin, Jin, Cloos, Martijn A., Deelchand, Dinesh K., Zöllner, Helge J., Saleh, Muhammad G., Hui, Steve C. N., Ali, Tonima, Shaw, Thomas B., Barth, Markus, Mattingley, Jason B., Filmer, Hannah L. and Dux, Paul E. (2024). Neurochemical predictors of generalised learning induced by brain stimulation and training. The Journal of Neuroscience, 44 (21) e1676232024, 1-15. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.1676-23.2024
2024
Conference Publication
Reliability and reproducibility of neurochemical profiles obtained with sLASER and STEAM at 3T and 7T in lower and upper limb regions
Eftekhari, Zeinab, Shaw, Thomas B., Deelchand, Dinesh, Marjańska, Małgorzata, Bogner, Wolfgang and Barth, Markus (2024). Reliability and reproducibility of neurochemical profiles obtained with sLASER and STEAM at 3T and 7T in lower and upper limb regions. ISMRM Annual Meeting, Singapore, Singapore, 4 - 9 May 2024. Berkeley, CA, United States: International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. doi: 10.58530/2024/1835
2024
Conference Publication
Longitudinal reproducibility of 3D-FID-CRT-MRSI in the human brain at 3T and 7T
Eftekhari, Zeinab, Shaw, Thomas B., Eckstein, Korbinian, Strasser, Bernhard, Niess, Fabian, Hingerl, Lukas, Bogner, Wolfgang and Barth, Markus (2024). Longitudinal reproducibility of 3D-FID-CRT-MRSI in the human brain at 3T and 7T. ISMRM Annual Meeting, Singapore, Singapore, 4 - 9 May 2024. Berkeley, CA, United States: International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. doi: 10.58530/2024/1852
2023
Journal Article
Individual differences in decision strategy relate to neurochemical excitability and cortical thickness
Filmer, Hannah L., Loughnan, Kathleen, Seeto, Jennifer X., Ballard, Timothy, Ehrhardt, Shane E., Shaw, Thomas, Wards, Yohan, Rideaux, Reuben, Leow, Li-Ann, Sewell, David and Dux, Paul E. (2023). Individual differences in decision strategy relate to neurochemical excitability and cortical thickness. The Journal of Neuroscience, 43 (42), 7006-7015. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.1086-23.2023
2023
Journal Article
HumanBrainAtlas: an in vivo MRI dataset for detailed segmentations
Schira, Mark M., Isherwood, Zoey J., Kassem, Mustafa S., Barth, Markus, Shaw, Thomas B., Roberts, Michelle M. and Paxinos, George (2023). HumanBrainAtlas: an in vivo MRI dataset for detailed segmentations. Brain Structure and Function, 228 (8), 1-15. doi: 10.1007/s00429-023-02653-8
2023
Conference Publication
Proceedings of the OHBM Brainhack 2021
Nikolaidis, Aki, Manchini, Matteo, Auer, Tibor, L. Bottenhorn, Katherine, Alonso-Ortiz, Eva, Gonzalez-Escamilla, Gabriel, Valk, Sofie, Glatard, Tristan, Selim Atay, Melvin, M.M. Bayer, Johanna, Bijsterbosch, Janine, Algermissen, Johannes, Beck, Natacha, Bermudez, Patrick, Poyraz Bilgin, Isil, Bollmann, Steffen, Bradley, Claire, E.J. Campbell, Megan, Caron, Bryan, Civier, Oren, Pedro Coelho, Luis, El Damaty, Shady, Das, Samir, Dugré, Mathieu, Earl, Eric, Evas, Stefanie, Lopes Fischer, Nastassja, Fu Yap, De, G. Garner, Kelly ... P. Zwiers, Marcel (2023). Proceedings of the OHBM Brainhack 2021. OHBM Brainhack 2021, Online, 16-18 June 2021. Organization for Human Brain Mapping. doi: 10.52294/258801b4-a9a9-4d30-a468-c43646391211
2023
Conference Publication
Open-Source Hypothalamic-ForniX (OSHy-X) Atlases and Segmentation Tool for 3T and 7T
Chang, Jeryn, Steyn, Frederik, Ngo, Shyuan, Henderson, Robert, Guo, Christine, Bollmann, Steffen, Fripp, Jurgen, Barth, Markus and Shaw, Thomas (2023). Open-Source Hypothalamic-ForniX (OSHy-X) Atlases and Segmentation Tool for 3T and 7T. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB & ISMRT 31st Annual Meeting, London, United Kingdom, 7-12 May 2022. Concord, CA United States: International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. doi: 10.58530/2022/3808
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Thomas Shaw is:
- Available for supervision
Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.
Available projects
-
Multimodal MRI Biomarkers for Motor Neuron Disease
This project will develop and evaluate multimodal MRI biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of motor neuron disease (MND). The successful candidate will integrate imaging measures including structural, diffusion, functional, spectroscopic, and spinal MRI into computational models that capture disease heterogeneity.
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Evaluating Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Spectroscopic Imaging Techniques in Motor Neuron Disease at 3T and 7T
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Kieran O'Brien, Professor Markus Barth
-
Doctor Philosophy
Use of bioinformatics to decode disease heterogeneity in motor neuron disease
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Robert Henderson, Associate Professor Shyuan Ngo, Associate Professor Frederik Steyn
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Thomas Shaw directly for media enquiries about:
- 7T
- Motor Neurone Disease
- MRI
- neuroimaging
- Ultra-High Field
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